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Executive Angst: How to Use It to Your Advantage
May 21, 2008
Generally speaking, hyperventilation, and running for cover under the desk, isn't a good thing. But anxiety in the workplace has its place, if you know the good kind versus the bad, and how to use it effectively.
By Robert Rosen
The waves of change are crashing in on every organization in today's business environment. Unpredictable markets, sky-rocketing energy costs, and an uncertain future are causing considerable anxiety at every level. The pressure is on you, as a training professional, to come up with ways to help transform today's problems into tomorrow’s successes.
But what can you do? The accelerating rate of change and the anxiety it produces are outpacing your ability to create timely strategies and solutions to meet the onslaught of challenges. However, if you look closely, you'll find the answer lies in the anxiety itself. When you harness the energy of healthy anxiety you can help yourself and your organization successfully ride the waves of change. Unhealthy levels of anxiety—too much or too little—can result in obsessive thinking, jumping to conclusions, and magnifying or minimizing events. But a healthy level of anxiety—just enough anxiety—will put you and your organization on the path to improved performance and greater capacity for change and growth.
Leveraging Apprehensions
What's just enough anxiety? It is the right level of anxiety that drives people forward without causing them to resist or try to control what happens. More than any other factor, it propels people and their organizations to the top. During my 30-year career as a psychologist, entrepreneur, and CEO advisor, I've interviewed and advised more than 250 top leaders at organizations worldwide. The most successful are those who live and lead with just enough anxiety, using it as a powerful force for positive change.
As a trainer, you can foster just enough anxiety by developing programs where individuals and teams will learn how to:
• Practice non-attachment. Teaching people how to let go of the way things are, and distinguish what can and can't be controlled, helps them respond and adapt more quickly to changing circumstances.
• Cultivate an open mind and heart. Understanding their personal strengths and weaknesses, and expressing emotions in healthy ways, enables people to use their energy for positive purposes and learn as they go.
• Balance realism and optimism. People who know how to tell the truth about what is are better prepared to face challenges head-on. Imagining what can allows them to reach for possibilities and see problems as opportunities in disguise.
• Develop confident humility. People who act decisively while sharing power and responsibility with others are more likely to inspire trust and collaboration.
• Be constructive and impatient at the same time. Being constructive involves creating a safe work environment; being impatient involves stretching beyond what seems possible. People who are both constructive and impatient are more willing to step outside their comfort zones to take calculated risks.
When you develop these qualities in yourself and your organization, you unleash just enough anxiety for positive learning and growth. Just enough anxiety boosts people’s energy and concentration, and improves their performance. It will help your company thrive in the midst of uncertainty, and ride those waves of change.
Robert Rosen is CEO of Healthy Companies International, a keynote speaker, and author of "JUST ENOUGH ANXIETY: The Hidden Driver of Business Success." To learn more, visit www.justenoughanxiety.com or www.healthycompanies.com.
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